A place for a tired old woman to try to figure things out so that the world makes a bit of sense.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Thank You, Nancy Reagan

I must admit that Nancy Reagan was never my cup of tea. Still, these past few years she has proved to me that she is serious about fighting to find a cure for Alzheimer's, an horrific disease that claimed both my father and my brother and which took down her husband. She is even willing to take on a sitting president on the issue, in this case, specifically on the issue of stem cell research.

An AP report, cited at StemPac, shows that she is currently involved in quietly lobbying the US Senate as they prepare to vote on a bill that would remove some of the President Bush's restrictions on stem cell research:

WASHINGTON (June 17) - Nancy Reagan is poised for a quiet entrance into the Senate's embryonic stem cell debate in much the same role she played during the fierce fight in the House, calling up waveringlawmakers to help win passage of legislation in the shadow of President Bush's veto threat....

Now Mrs. Reagan and other advocates have turned their sights on the Senate, where a bipartisan group of sponsors say they have at lest 58 votes in favor of the House-passed bill - two short of the numberrequired to stop a promised filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a physician and White House ally, said he expects the chamber to act on the bill next month....

''She makes a very good case for why this is something that somebody who cares very much about respect for life also cares very much for the respect for the living,'' said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

I hope those senators all take her phone call and listen carefully to her. Then I hope they pass a veto-proof bill as much out of a sense of it being the right and decent thing to do as out of a sense of reverence for the late Ronald Reagan.

StemPac has a "thank you" letter to Mrs. Reagan on their site. I've signed it, and I hope you will as well.

Then I hope you will call or write your senators and ask them to vote in favor of the stem cell bill. Tell them that you expect them to.